Chapter 175

When the news spread that the queen had declared war on Meereen because of an assassination attempt she had suffered there long ago, half of her advisors thought she had gone mad, while the other half fell silent.

She asked Ser Barristan Selmy if she had gone mad; the old knight replied that she could adopt a gentler attitude toward those who came seeking peace, but preemptively declaring war on those who wanted to wage war on her would not be a loss—at least her side would know the exact start time of the war in advance.

Daenerys could only thank him for his humor, but his humor could not hide his worry.

She also asked Daario privately, but Daario, whether by his gaze or his expression, showed he was more interested in her bosom; only when the matter was ending did he chuckle and reply, "The queen can do whatever she wants; otherwise she shouldn't be called a queen, but a whore—whores rarely get to choose their clients as they please—and those who can't act as they wish are called whore queens." Because of that remark, she threw a cushion and a bracelet at him; he dodged the cushion, caught the bracelet, and personally fastened it on her, saying, "I have won the friendship of the sheep people for the queen; with such brave and warlike allies, adding a crybaby milk person as an enemy is nothing." He wasn't without judgment; as he left the room, he said, at least the queen's method of seizing ships was cleverly queenly, worthy of having her enemies place a crown upon her head.

She stared off, lost in thought over his last words.

The idea of seizing the ships came from her newly appointed advisor. She had to admit that this advisor's mind was more agile than most of the people around him, his judgments more accurate, and even his suggestions easier to accept; although they were bloody enough, at least they were accompanied by harmony, as if the screams she might hear were merely an inevitable part of that music, and omitting them would only affect the experience.

When she declared war on Meereen, she did not know what the great families remaining in the pyramids were thinking. Gelacide said they should increase the publicity of her assassination attempt and, taking the opportunity, punish—literally, "bloodwash"—the disobedient great nobles, making the current action reasonable. If that is reasonable, then declaring war on Meereen is at least also reasonable.

Heh, but I hope those great nobles and rebels will realize that she dares to declare war on Meereen, and just as dares to raise the butcher's knife against them, and raising the knife is equally justified.

But they're about to die, and she doesn't really understand who this show is meant to impress, or whom this reasoning is addressed to; she doesn't want to ask her new advisor a question that might make her seem "superficial" or "foolish".

The queen knew that outside the city, enemies from all directions were slowly approaching, while inside, cries of killing rose and fell everywhere; she could hear them clearly from within the pyramid.

After cleansing the first two pyramids with blood, Yuanlu daren and Daario found many new reports about the sons of the harpy for her, and these reports kept them running back and forth.

The more new information she received, the more she felt she was being deceived by the Green Grace and her steward.

Every day after the Green Grace was driven out of the great hall, she would come to see her, weeping and pleading, but the queen always refused her on the pretext of news from Yuanlu daren. When the slaughter reached the fifth day, definite word came concerning her cousin Gelacidan Zuo Kalale, and Daenerys learned with shock that she had already committed suicide in the Temple of the Graces.

She had originally wanted to go see the Green Grace's corpse herself, to thank her for the limited help she had given over that long time, but her retainers stopped her.

It is said that she died in an extremely strange manner: at death she took exactly the form of a harpy, her long arms becoming the harpy's gray wings, her legs and feet turned into the creature's two legs, and most horrifying of all, a pair of pincers elongated from her lower spine.

No matter how she tried, the queen could not believe a person could become such a thing, but when Ser Barristan Selmy returned, he described another fantastical scene: the folds hanging from her upper and lower arms were slit open with a knife and spread out, making them look like wings; the leg bones and spine of her two legs were removed, the leg bones placed where the spine had been, and the spine was then spliced together and bound to her body, making it appear as pincers, while the legs lacking leg bones were displayed as the harpy's webbed feet—a method used in sacrifice by the ancient Ghiscari.

Daenerys found it hard to imagine that sight, and all she felt was the urge to vomit.

She did not know why the Green Grace chose to die in that way, but later "rumors" allowed her to piece together the answer: before her death, the Green Grace issued a death curse upon her in the name of the Ghiscari gods.

Without consulting her advisors, she bypassed them and personally ordered the troops to move out, killing everyone involved in making the "harpy" at the temple and burning the Green Grace's corpse. Since the Temple of the Graces stood beside the Great Pyramid, she went up onto the pyramid and saw the Green Grace burning.

She felt that the Green Grace burned with a green flame.

It was truly bizarre. Daenerys could only console herself, thinking it was the color of wisdom and nobility burning.

Green is the most noble color in the Ghiscari temple, reserved only for the highest-ranking sisters—sometimes Daenerys thinks this is because the place simply lacks enough green. There are also sisters of other colors, each fulfilling her duty: pink denotes the newly arrived, showing they are common; yellow indicates those responsible for the temple's daily labor; blue signifies the devout monastics who dedicate their lives to religious affairs and master a skill, such as medicine; purple denotes the aristocratic monks who have taken vows; and red signifies the lust‑bound monastics, women known as holy whores, and no matter what they call themselves, to the Ghiscari and everyone else they are no different from ordinary prostitutes.

Because she wore a long red robe like fire, she too was called a holy whore, which was no better than being called a "whore queen".

She could ignore what others called her, but she could not ignore that the hostages addressed her in that way; she felt offended.

When her blade swept toward the families of Mikhalaz and Dahasa, the two men burst into her presence, brandishing crude weapons to threaten her. She didn't mind the childish gestures made by those two little fellows beneath layers of guards; indeed, part of her even thought they were brave enough—although Mikhalaz often seemed lazy while Dahasa enjoyed and was skilled at dancing—but once they shouted the word "holy whore," Daenerys could no longer restrain herself.

In her fury she commanded Ser Barristan to have the two men executed—actually, she had already regretted it when she gave the order, not regretting the order itself but regretting that she had given it to the knight—Ser Barristan stared at her in shock, making her feel like a monster.

The knight had no grounds to refuse or plead, for the two were hostages, and according to the exact evidence that had been turned up, they ought to have been executed already. When his pleading gaze was met by her firmer refusal and overruled, he sighed deeply, "You are making me trample honor," and then drew his long sword.

Those words especially angered her, so she snatched the long sword from the knight's hand—she hadn't expected it to be so heavy—and then, dragging the sword, she stabbed the two hostages to death in front of everyone.

Blood spurted, soaking the sword and her robe, and splashing onto her face.

They deserved to die, she thought, looking at their hateful eyes, and she felt no regret. The divine light of life scattered in their gaze, she only felt satisfaction; the blood spattered, she only felt nauseous.

To attain light, you must pass through shadow.

Shadow is not wholly bitterness, nor wholly sorrow; she finally understood that it also contains fury and hatred.

After the killing, she ordered that the Green Grace's cousin be spared; she did not know why she had done so, perhaps because she thought the Green Grace's cousin had nothing to do with the harpies' sons, or perhaps because she felt the shadow of today was already enough.

After the slaughter, the old knight seemed to have aged further, while she only wanted to find Daario and cram him tightly between her legs.

Thereafter, Yuanlu daren presented her with ever more skulls, "offering" them as tribute to the spirits; when he tossed down seven heads roughly of the Kuerza lineage, the queen finally ordered that his beast‑headed host be split into seven—by direction into vanguard, rearguard, left and right armies, and by function into city guard, patrol, and palace troops—then, following her new advisor's advice, she promoted him to judge and granted him the pyramid of black‑and‑green brick that had belonged to the Naqian family.

He was the only one among her commanders to receive such a reward.

The bloodshed and killing would continue, but she had grown impatient.

The gate was slowly grinding shut; she still had to struggle free from her predicament, and she was destined to end up covered in scars.